SANTA CLARA–Team USA displayed grit and resilience in a 2-0 shutout victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina at the rocking San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Wednesday, July 1. This victory let team USA advance to the next round, where they will face Belgium.
The first goal was scored by Folarin Balogun right before halftime. This goal was very necessary because there seemed to appear to be a missed call that would have resulted in a penalty kick, and another goal was disallowed because of an offside called by the referee.
In the 64th minute, Balogun was issued a red card on a very hard tackle to Tarik Muharemovic. Meaning an immediate ejection for Balogun. In addition, he will not be allowed to play in the Round of 16 on Monday’s matchup against Belgium.
The main thing however, was getting to the next game, with the USA holding on to a precarious lead. Holding on to a one goal lead with over 35 minutes left to play in the game, it would appear that they would not advance to the next round.
The crowd, who has been raucous and extremely loud up until that point grew eerily silent. It was not until Malik Tillman scored on a free kick in the eighty second minute did the crowd erupt in joy in a obvious USA victory.
So with the hard fought victory the United States will face Belgium on Monday night to possibly advance to the next round
It’s a tall order. But as the USA have proven nothing is impossible in this World Cup.
World Cup fever has struck the whole country. As the game ended, the crowd sang very loudly John Denver’s, “Country Roads” as one. It was a beautiful ending to a beautiful game.
